IBC, Amsterdam

Just got back from the International Broadcasters Conference, hosted in Amsterdam. My day started at 3.30am, and has just finished at 11.00pm, so I'm exhausted ... but it was worth it.

IBC is hosted each year, and is a huge tradeshow / conference venue for anything broadcast related, including television and the web. Its a great place to see new technology and pick up some freebies :o)

I've not been to Amsterdam for several years, and I'd forgotten about how scary their trains look. Efficient, but still scary.

The day consisted of mainly wandering around the show floor -- getting lost -- finding a map -- finding coffee -- getting lost again -- finding more coffee -- etc.

Just when we thought we couldn't go on any more, J and I found a beach (yes, a beach) in the middle of the complex. It was great to get away for 5 minutes, so we spent about an hour there :o)

One technology that really caught our eye were the LED screens. I knew they'd been improved over the last few years, but to actually see the screens, and what people were doing with them was pretty interesting.

HDTV is big. Very big, and with Sky beginning HD broadcasts next year I expect to see a lot more of it soon. I'm feeling better about buying that new LCD TV now :o)